Category Archives: music

Take pleasure in change and transitoriness

Le Voyageur (1972) – Schizo
cover of the 7″ vinyl

“Le Voyageur“/Torcol (1972) is a seven inch single by Heldon. It features Nietzsche lyrics recited by Deleuze on music by Richard Pinhas:

“He who has attained the freedom of reason to any extent cannot, for a long time, regard himself otherwise than as a wanderer on the face of the earth – and not even as a traveller towards a final goal, for there is no such thing. But he certainly wants to observe and keep his eyes open to whatever actually happens in the world; therefore he cannot attach his heart too firmly to anything individual; he must have in himself something wandering that takes pleasure in change and transitoriness.” –from The Wanderer, in the first volume of Nietzsche’s Human, All Too Human

The track is available on:

Radio Nova presents: Underground Moderne (2001) – Various [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]

More here.

Just when you think those vocals couldn’t climb any higher

Tommy delivers again with Aura – L.A. Sunshine (1978, Change/MCA)

… This single has to be one of the most intriguing, and certainly interesting disco tracks I’ve come across so far, anchored by that understated, percolating percussion and bass; those dreamy strings and of course that absolutely mad vocal. For me, the vocals are notable, not just because of their delivery, but because the way it seems to have been recorded, sounding slightly canned and processed but most likely without actually being so. It’s like one of those records that, on paper, shouldn’t work (kind of like Loose Joints’ “Is It All Over My Face”), but somehow comes together into something that, while a little off-beat, is completely and oddly captivating. Perhaps the most sublime moment comes right after that verse where she goes “I’ll be back soon.” Believe me, it’s not as plain as it sounds when you actually hear it; just when you think those vocals couldn’t climb any higher, they end up soaring right above your head.

Introducing the Opinionated Diner

Simon Grigg has The Opinionated Diner, a music blog with good taste.

Silent Introduction (1997) – Kenny Dixon Jr
[Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]

….enigmatic, even in his most open moments, Kenny Dixon Jr remains both one of America’s great musical secrets, almost unknown outside electronic circles, and a massive influence across the pond in Europe and America (try and imagine Henrik Schwarz’s wonderful DJ Kicks mix without Kenny’s influence). And completely addictive…once you buy in you come back again and again (and indeed, find yourself paying silly money for those rare 12”s). His rhythms, grooves…call them what you will…are often ridiculously understated in their subtly but their ability of snare you…as he says: I Can’t Kick This Feeling When It Hits —The Opinionated Diner

A bit more on Henrik Schwarz:

DJ-Kicks (2006) – Henrik Schwarz
[Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]

It features tracks by personal favourites, Moondog, James Brown, Cymande, Drexciya, Coldcut, Robert Hood, Pharoah Sanders, Arthur Russell and Rhythm & Sound.

Other releases in 2006 that seem good:

Sunday Afternoon at Dingwalls (2006) – Gilles Peterson, Patrick Forge
[Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]

Related: Patrick Forge – Gilles Peterson – Acid Jazz – Dingwalls

And finally K Punk’s 2006 rewind:

Momus argues that ‘if music didn’t exactly die in 2006, it certainly felt sidelined, jilted, demoted, decentred, dethroned as the exemplary creative activity, the most vibrant subculture.’ That is one reason why Burial has to be the album of 2006, and hauntology the year’s dominant theme. K Punk’s 2006 rewind

Burial (2006) – Burial
[Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]

 

Burial’s self-titled LP on Hyperdub is one of our albums of the year. It’s a remarkable debut, built from damaged beats and distant, hiss-smothered vocal samples: a haunted pirate station broadcasting forgotten rave anthems from the afterlife. —factmagazine

Listen to a track by Burial here. The genre is called dubstep, and it has been championed by Simon Reynolds and K-Punk since more than two years, I’m not sure I’m too keen on it. I have the same feeling as when the British music press was raving about The Streets.

Best of 2006 in music:

I’m afraid I’m not very good at year end lists, but everyone seemed to like Ys by Joanna Newsom. She belongs to that elusive category New Weird America, my brother bought a lot of that stuff last year, and his musical taste is impeccable.

James Brown (1933 – 2006)

James Brown

James Brown (1933 – 2006)

The godfather of soul and funk is dead. See posts by Greencine and Phinn.

L.A. Style: ‘James Brown Is Dead’ (1991)

James Brown, the dynamic, pompadoured “Godfather of Soul,” whose rasping vocals and revolutionary rhythms made him a founder of rap, funk and disco as well, died early Monday, his agent said. He was 73…. Along with Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan and a handful of others, Brown was one of the major musical influences of the past 50 years. At least one generation idolized him, and sometimes openly copied him. His rapid-footed dancing inspired Mick Jagger and Michael Jackson among others. Songs such as David Bowie‘s “Fame,” Prince‘s “Kiss,” George Clinton‘s “Atomic Dog” and Sly and the Family Stone’s “Sing a Simple Song” were clearly based on Brown’s rhythms and vocal style.

If Brown’s claim to the invention of soul can be challenged by fans of Ray Charles and Sam Cooke, then his rights to the genres of rap, disco and funk are beyond question. He was to rhythm and dance music what Dylan was to lyrics: the unchallenged popular innovator.

The AP.

As she stalks through the night …

Ascenseur pour l’échafaud (1958) – Louis Malle
[Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]

As she stalks through the night, she is a vision of tortured heartbreak, her woeful eyes and lush, sensuous lips illuminated by neon signs and baleful streetlamps.

I watched Ascenseur pour l’échafaud with G___. This 1958 French film stars Jeanne Moreau and is directed by Louis Malle. The score is by Miles Davis and the film belongs to the film noir category. The film is about a woman who cheats on her husband and persuades her lover to kill him. Like in Fargo, things go horribly wrong. Other comparisons to be made are The Postman Always Rings Twice (lover-husband-murder theme) and Scorsese’s 1985 After Hours (its unity of time is constrained: the action takes place within 24 hours or so). The film is a celebration of fifties modernism with scenes playing in a motel, on a motorway and in a modern office building. Two cars are featured: a Cadillac and a Mercedes 300SL.

Let’s Kill All The Uglies (1948) – Boris Vian

Et on tuera tous les affreux (1948) – Boris Vian

Et on tuera tous les affreux [Eng: Let’s Kill All The Uglies] is a French detective novel by Vernon Sullivan, the pseudonym of Boris Vian, first published in 1948 by Scorpion. The novel, like many others (the most famous of which is I Spit On Your Grave), was supposedly written by a certain American writer called Vernon Sullivan, of which Boris Vian pretended to be the translator. [Dec 2006]

I know only a little bit about Vian. He was one of those infinitely connected nodes. Amazing how much we know about Jamaican Culture in Britain but how little about that of our (extremely wonderful and interesting neighbours). If I was the editor of The Wire I’d look into things like this. Vian was the dude who fixed up all the Jazz for Paris in the 40s and 50s. He brought Ellington over to France … He’s the early reincarnation of that perennial French figure, the Afro-American culture importer. In the late 60s we have Daniel Caux bringing over the Free crew for the Shandar stuff [and also here] and in the 90s we have Laurent Garnier getting the Detroit lot over. — Woebot on Vian [2003].

See also: Boris Vian

Larry Levan MP3s

Via analog giant:

Mp3: Joubert Singers – “Stand of the Word” (Levan Remix)
Mp3: Grace Jones – “Pull Up to the Bumper” (Levan Garage Remix)
Mp3: Inner Life – “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” (Levan 12″ Mix)
Mp3: Chaka Khan – “Tearin‘ It Up” (Levan Mix)

Pay special attention to ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough‘ (1981), especially the break. Vocals are by Jocelyn ‘Somebody Else’s Guy’ Brown, mix by Larry Levan, keys by Michael De Benedictus.

Another Jocelyn fave is ‘Make It Last Forever’ (1979).

Larry Levan produced over 70 remixes. To me his best record is the Padlock EP (1983).

More info on the Joubert track here.

The Pianist (2002) – Roman Polanski

I saw Roman Polanski’s 2002 film The Pianist today. The story about a Jewish piano player and his time in the Warsaw Ghetto. I have never seen a bad film by Polanski, in my view he is one of the greatest post-war cineasts and this film is no exception. While I recently said that there can be no fictional narrative of Auschwitz (thinking of the faux realism of Schindler’s List black and white footage) this film sort of changed my mind. I thought that it was very realistic in its portrayal of the atrocities committed by the Germans and the gradual build-up of the dehuminazation of the Jews. The film is also a testament to the value of art and music, a bit contrary to Adorno’s famous statement that “there can be no art after Auschwitz.”

Searching for polanski+pianist+schindler+black and white+spielberg+verisimilitude brings up two good reviews, the first by Clive James and one by kamera.co.uk.

Trivia: I cried when the wheel-chaired bound man was thrown of the balcony and the men were shot and driven over by the Germans. I laughed when one of the brothers told the story of the surgeon who was brought to the ghetto to operate on someone, and was subsequently shot along with the anaesthetized patient.

See also: verisimilitude – realism in film – the Holocaust in art and fiction